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Tesla Motors Reaches 52-Week High

Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) hit a new 52-week high of $97.12 on May 14, which is above its previous level of $88.00 a day before, and closed at $83.24 on the same date. The closing price represented a whopping one-year return of 176.9% and year-to-date return of 135.4%.

The Palo Alto, California-based leading manufacturer of electric vehicles and electric vehicle powertrain components has a market cap of $10.05 billion. Average volume of shares traded over the last three months stood at approximately 4,651.6K.

Shares of the company started escalating following the release of its surprising 2013-first quarter results on May 8. The company posted its first-ever quarterly profit of $15.4 million, or 12 cents per share, on an adjusted basis, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with a loss of $79.3 million or 76 cents in the corresponding quarter of 2012. This indicates a whopping positive earnings surprise of 271.4% given the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 7 cents for the quarter.

Revenues jumped manifold to $561.8 million from $30.2 million in the first quarter of 2012. Thanks to the impressive 5,000 units of Model S electric car sales during the quarter.

The automaker continued to supply full electric powertrains and battery packs to Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) for their RAV4 EV program. It also completed various deliverables under Daimler’s (DDAIF) Mercedes Benz B-Class EV program, which contributed to total development services revenues of nearly $7 million.

Although, total gross margin decreased to 17.1% from 33.8% a year ago but rose from 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2012 due to higher Model S production rate, manufacturing efficiencies, cost reduction measures and regulatory credit sales.

Tesla expects to manufacture 5,000 Model S vehicles in the second quarter of the year. For full year 2013, the company expects to deliver 21,000 Model S cars globally, up 5% from its prior guidance of 20,000 units.

Tesla also plans to spend about $200 million as capital expenditures in 2013, as it concludes the majority of investments in the Tesla Factory and Model S tooling. Capital expenditures also include the expansion of services, store development, Supercharger networks and new product development.

Currently, shares of Tesla retain a Zacks Rank #3, which implies a short-term (one to three months) Hold rating. Peugeot S.A. (PEUGY) with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) is performing well in the broader automotive industry.